New Madison County property owners group outlines goals

The Madison County Property Owners Association (MCPOA) is steadily growing as more county residents join to have a unified community voice. MCPOA board members have big goals for 2019. The group is open to residents of Madison County subdivisions in areas that are not incorporated and county homeowners who do not live within a subdivision.

Trey Petro, the Ashbrooke representative on the newly formed MCPOA board of directors, said approximately 15 subdivisions have joined so far and several others have expressed interest.

Petro said the group is modeled after the Madison Organization of Neighborhood Associations.

The main goal of the group is to bring together those living in Madison County to have a unified voice on issues within their communities, but also with local government.

“We have had phenomenal interest from the community,” Petro said. “It’s just everybody coming together for a common goal.”

“Right now, we are aiming to open up a line of communication between subdivisions in the area to see what they are doing and what’s working,” Petro added.

MCPOA is meant to be a forum for residents to exchange ideas.

“Our common goal is to come together and have one voice with our county officials and let them know what some changes are that we would like to see,” Petro said. “We want a clear channel of communication.”

The kickoff meeting was held in October 2018, and Petro said it went “extremely well.”

“We heard speeches and updates on county projects,” Petro said. “We got through that and approved our bylaws, which we’re wanting to sign into effect soon with the board.”

The board will meet for the first time this week to elect officers and decide on meeting dates for the organization this year.

“We’re going to try to get this thing moving forward,” Petro said.

Those in attendance at the inaugural meeting voted in the following board members for the organization: Rusty Hampton, Deerfield; Tammy Castagnoli, Red Oak Plantation; Brad Beattie, First Colony; Bill Buhner, Providence; Heath Ferguson, Greyhawk.

Kerry Minninger will serve as the at-large member on the board of directors.

MCPOA members will pay dues for the group’s expenses, like stationary and other items, according to Petro.

“We will also make charitable donations this year as well,” Petro said. “We will try to give a little back to the community.”

One issue that many of the residents and members of MCPOA have voiced concerns about is solicitation in neighborhoods being a nuisance.

“We plan to bring that up to the board of supervisors to see if we can get some rules in place to deal with that,” Petro said.

They also plan to work with the road department to report any serious issues that need to be addressed.

“We want to be one voice with those kind of issues,” Petro said. “We are really excited about this organization. We’re ready to get the ball rolling this year.”

The organization will rely primarily on social media and electronic communication to get information out to residents.

Most of the group’s information will be shared to their Facebook page, in addition to an email distribution list for updates and county alerts.

“This will be a good relay point,” Petro said. “We are very excited about it.”

The organization will meet approximately four times a year, according to Petro.